


Making out with the Bartender

by Saturning



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man (Tom Holland Movies)
Genre: BAMF Harley Keener, Bisexual Peter Parker, Boys Kissing, First Meetings, Gay Harley Keener, Harley is a bartender, Homophobic Language, Kissing, M/M, Making Out, Poor Tony Stark is so done, Strangers to Lovers, im shit at writing tags so live with this
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-16
Updated: 2020-03-16
Packaged: 2021-02-28 23:28:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,963
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23165497
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Saturning/pseuds/Saturning
Summary: Peter‘s date is a bitch, but Harley, the considerate bartender, isn’t.OrHarley helps Peter get rid of his date and ends up staying the night at his.
Relationships: Harley Keener/Peter Parker
Comments: 16
Kudos: 548





	Making out with the Bartender

**Author's Note:**

> Trigger warning for some homophobic and biphobic language and cussing in general!  
> So please don’t read if you’re uncomfortable with that!
> 
> This is neither beta read nor proofread because I really can’t be bothered right now, maybe I’ll come back to it but until then please endure my typos etc.
> 
> I just recently got into the pairing and just had to write something. It’s not the best but I hope you enjoy it!

It should have been a normal night shift all around. Though normal is a weird term to every bartender, one can never expect the shit drunk people say and do. Harley never expected that his weirdest encounter would be absolutely sober tonight.

Harley just put down two shots for some regular looking college students who sat at the bar, when a young man came running up, rounded the counter with no explanation and immediately hid under it. With raised eyebrows he looked down at the intruder with fluffy brown hair and big doe eyes.

“Care to evaluate as to why you think you can just step into workers’ space without a fair warning?”, he asked nonchalant.

“Shh!”, the boy warned, looking terrified. “Please”, he then added in a more pleading whisper just loud enough for Harley to hear over the loud music, “I need to hide for like 10 minutes. If a furious looking girl with shoulder length dark hair and a striped shirt comes up to ask for me, please god say I’m not here.”

The man seemed earnest and he didn’t get much out of this, so it for sure wasn’t a big scam kind of thing. He really looked like he just needed Harley to help him out in a shitty situation. _Maybe ex-girlfriend? Or current one?_ , he thought, though it shouldn’t be of his concern. Still he found himself weirdly hoping for the first, considering that the man right now hiding under his counter was hot as fuck. Harley couldn’t help himself but notice his defined arms, the shirt hugging him tightly and the beautiful grateful smile the stranger flashed him when he said “sure, sweetheart, I’ll help ya out.”

Five minutes went by before a girl matching the man’s description came up to the counter, fuming.

“Hey!”, she shouted, snapping her fingers right in front of Harley’s face in a very rude gesture, to get his attention.

Still, he held his customer smile and stopped cleaning the counter, giving her what she asked for. The man under it visibly tensed up at the sound of her voice. So that was the girl for sure.

“How can I help you?”, he asked politely.

“I’m searching for a guy. He’s, like, a little shorter than you, has short brown hair, quite muscly and wears a dark blue shirt. The name is Peter. Have you seen him?”

Ah, so the mysterious stranger has a name.

“Can’t say I have, sorry. What has he done that you’re looking like you’re trying to kill him?”

Now, Harley wasn’t noisy, but he was curious. The girl wasn’t ugly, maybe a little rude, but angry people usually are. What had Peter done to upset her?

“That’s none of your fucking business, how about you do your fucking job and stop pestering your customers while I see if your coworker is more useful”, she snapped and stormed off. Mentally, Harley took back everything he previously thought, that girl wasn’t just angry-rude. She was just a bitch. He waited another minute, making sure the girl was gone in the masses again, before taking a step back and giving the still hiding man a thumbs up.

“I think she’s gone for now, but from what I know about people, she’ll be back.”

“Yeah, you right. She will”, Peter answered with a nervous smile tugging at his lips, while he tried to gracefully get out of hiding. It didn’t quite work, the space was too small to look good doing it, but he managed. Did this man even have a bad angle? If so, Harley certainly couldn’t find it. It was hard not to stare, so he tore his eyes from Peter’s muscles and glanced at the clock instead. To his delight it showed a little past 12am, which meant that his shift was finally over.

“If you’re so worried seeing her again, I could get you out through the back door if ya want. My shift is now over anyways and I’m heading out there”, Harley offered in a friendly voice, but in the back of his mind he was pleading for the stranger to say yes, just to admire him for a few more seconds. He really was disastrously gay, wasn’t he?

“That’d be great, dude! Thank you so much”, Peter answered with glee basically radiating off his body. He really must dread seeing that girl again.

Harley quickly signed his coworker, Dave, a really chill guy, that he was leaving now and he smiled and waved a quick goodbye, no questions asked as to why this stranger was following him to the staff-only room. It wasn’t like this was an unusual occurrence. Not necessarily Harley, but a few of his coworkers liked to pick someone up during their shift. This didn’t feel like a soon-to-be hookup. It was more of a friendly gesture, with questionable intentions.

They went through the door with a big “staff only” sign plastered on it and found themselves in a relatively small room with a table and some shelf’s for the employees to store their belongings during their shift. It’s cramped and Harley is suddenly very aware of the fact that he still needs to change out of his work button up. Not that he has an issue with it. He’ll just make it quick.

“Hope ya don’t mind a shirtless dude for a sec”, he said, though gave no time for Peter to react before he quickly opened the buttons and wrangled himself out of the white and hellish hot cloth. Peter still didn’t say anything and Harley pretended not to see the man’s staring, while he threw his work clothes into his bag and rummaged in the same one for his normal shirt. He found it seconds later, the black band shirt with one of iron maiden’s album covers on it, and put it on. Finally he took out his keys, zipped the bag closed and threw it over his shoulder, offering Peter an open smile.

“Let’s get out, shall we, sweetheart?”, he asked, not even thinking about the accidental use of the pet name, as he strode over to the locked back door, efficiently using his one hand with the keys to open the door, while the other searched his pockets for his cigarettes. He didn’t smoke too much, but he always lit one after work. It helped him calm down. Peter stayed quiet, his only reaction being the visible blush touching the tip of his ears and really, Harley thought, it was adorable. They eventually stepped out into the still warm, but slightly more crisp night air. It was clear and nice, warm enough to be out in a shirt only but cold enough to not sweat a disgusting amount.

Harley leaned against the brick wall, lighting his cigarette with grace, all the while he watched Peter with anticipation. The other man appeared to be torn between staying, because it might be rude to just leave and leaving, because why would he stay with the bartender he barely knew for more than necessary? To some extent Harley felt sorry for the man, but more so was he amused.

“You are allowed to go, you know. Though if you wanna talk about it, I’d like to hear whatcha did to make her so angry. She looked like she was ready to tear out the whole of our wooden floor just to find you and then start ripping you into sheds”, he mused. Another pause as long as he took a drag from his cigarette filled the space between them and he could see Peter’s eyes linger on his lips as he blew out the smoke.

“This was supposed to be a date”, Peter eventually sighed. “The second one. First was almost a disaster but I thought everybody deserved a second chance, but she really didn’t better herself at all. She is just rude and inconsiderate and homophobic on top of it! The boiling point was when I told her I was bi and she completely lost it. Accusing me of lying, being at high risk of cheating and being a fag and retard and all the insults from the book. Never have I felt so turned off.”

Harley was kind of at a loss of words. He hadn’t expected the man to accept his offer and continue talking and he certainly didn’t expect this kind of story. Though he did feel a rush of excitement running down his spine at the mentioning of being bi. But he couldn’t savour this feeling, because Peter looked at him like he was expecting Harley to act the same way his date did.

“Shit dude, that’s horrible. Pretty really ain’t everything, huh?”, he eventually said, wanting to hit his head against the brick wall immediately afterwards. How was that reassuring in any way? Thankfully, Peter just laughed, even took a step closer to where Harley was leaning against the wall and taking another drag of his cigarette, pointedly blowing the smoke away from Peter. He wasn’t an asshole.

“Yeah it really ain’t. You can have her for all I care, but I wouldn’t wish her on you, nor anyone for that matter. Ever the control freak.”

Harley almost choked at that. “God, please don’t send her to me! I wouldn’t even know what to do, I don’t even swing that way!”, he exclaimed, shocked at the implications the man made. Ever so slightly he saw Peter tense up for a second, maybe even eye him more closely again. To get over his awkward coming out, Harley asked another question.

“Well, but if she was so hateful towards you, why would she be searching for you? Seemed desperate.”

“Ugh, I don’t really know. She kept accusing me of lying and just saying I’m bi to scare her off, especially after I said that I wasn’t feeling comfortable with the date anymore and wanted to leave. Kept bugging me that she was the right girl for me and I wouldn’t give her a proper chance and she’d take good care of me and so on. Then I tried leaving, but she wouldn’t let me and got angry, ready to hit me even, I’m sure. So I bolted for it, thinking the exit would not be the best choice, she would look there for me first, so I ran up to you. Figured hiding was my best chance. Thanks again, by the way. You really saved my ass in there.” He smiled genuinely and _Fuck_ , now Harley not only thought he was hot as hell, but cute, too. Was he even real?

“Don’t worry about it, anyone would’ve done that an’ you needed it. All good.” He smiled back at him and thought if maybe that was a light blush resting on Peter’s cheeks. This time the silence was comfortable, as Harley continued smoking with Peter still standing by his side, studying the houses and street. And even though he wasn’t even doing anything, really, Harley thought he looked gorgeous. It was a god given present that Peter didn’t look back at him as he shamelessly stared at the attractive young man, imagining inappropriate scenarios, that were just as unlikely as being abducted right now, because Peter didn’t even know him. Why would he agree to a late night date with Harley after having his possibly worst date so far? He was also far out of his league. There was no way he’d say yes, but did it really hurt to try? Apparently tonight was full of surprises anyways, so why not take the chance? Worst case would be a rejection and them parting ways to never see each other again. Would be a shame to never be able to thirst over his muscles again, but it was likely anyways. Maybe he’d still get his number and they could become friends?

But before he could say anything, Peter’s had snapped back to him wearing an unreadable expression.

“Is everything alright Pete-“, Harley started, but was cut off by the other man.

“I’m so sorry for this”, he blurted, then lunged forward, grabbed his face - _Christ he had strong hands, but so tender, too?_ \- and pressed his lips on Harley’s. Harley short-circuited. He froze, cigarette falling out of his hand, but he didn’t mind. He needed but one second to start kissing Peter back, eyes fluttering closed, because why the hell wouldn’t he? The man was hot as fuck. And nice on top of that. Even if the circumstances were weird, Harley wasn’t one to complain. He could worry later.

Peter was a wonderful kisser. The way his lips moved against Harley’s, the way his tongue was almost asking for permission to be let in, of course Harley gave him that. He could feel the strong hands leaving his face and instead sliding down his sides to eventually grip his waist. Harley settled on burying one hand in those unruly but soft curls, lightly tugging once in a while, and the other on his neck, pulling him still closer, wanting to drown in that beautiful feeling of being pressed against the wall by the hot and most importantly strong body, that’s kissing him senseless right now, the cigarette lay but abandoned on the pavement. And when Peter slid his leg between Harley’s he might as well have lost all rationality regarding not sleeping with a complete stranger.

He didn’t know how long he had been kissing Peter, but he knew that the interruption was absolutely not asked for. The high pitched scream had caused them to break apart, not more than a few inches, but _apart_ nonetheless and Harley wasn’t happy about it. As he turned to look at the intruder he wasn’t surprised to see Peter’s ex-date standing there and looking aghast.

“What the fuck, Parker?”

 _Parker_ , Harley was sure he heard that name somewhere before but couldn’t remember.

“I’m your goddamn date and you ditch me to make out with the- the _bartender_?”, she cussed, viewing Harley up and down, all the while wearing a disgusted face. Harley answered quicker than Peter could.

“Darlin’ that scrunched up face gon’ stay like that, the hate doesn’t suit your looks. How about fucking off and minding your own business after he dumped you, huh? It’s rude to interrupt someone’s private moment, don’tcha think?” For that fact that he was still oddly aware, how Peter’s body was pressed to his, his hands still holding his waist, the words came out as confident and snarky as they were intended. The woman barely held herself and her anger at bay.

“You- I- I can’t believe this! I would have been so good to and for you, Peter, but you decide to go and be a faggot? You are both disgusting sinners, you’ll land in hell and I’m never coming back to this bar”, she practically screamed. It wouldn’t surprise Harley if suddenly steam would blow out of her ears.

“Look Julie”, Peter sighed, taking a painful step away from Harley and towards her. “I tried to be nice about this. I don’t like you the way you maybe like me. And you being unaccepting of my sexual orientation didn’t help either. You were rude and inconsiderate and definitely not good for me. So, please, Jesus Christ, just leave me alone.”

Harley was impressed. If this had been him, facing that demon of a woman, he could have not stayed so composed, neutral and friendly. In fact, he already didn’t, when he first answered her. But Peter handled it with grace.

Julie, on the other hand, did not. She stood there, gaping like a fish and apparently couldn’t decide wether to open her mouth and say something or seal it shut. Eventually she managed to string some angry sounds together, turn on her heel and storm away, huffing and puffing and cussing.

“I’m glad that she ain’t comin’ back to the bar”, Harley muttered slightly amused and crossed his arms over his chest. Peter let out a chuckle and turned back to Harley, his face flushed red, reaching his ears and neck, too. Cute.

“Sorry for... all this. I guess it was a little sudden and I probably should’ve asked before-“

“S’ alright, Peter. It was nice. You taste like vodka cranberry.” He grinned and Peter turned even more red.

“Yeah?”, he asked, taking at step back to get closer to Harley again, seemingly desperate to regain that confidence he had shown while kissing the ever loving fuck out of him. “Well you-“

“Harley. The name’s Harley.”

“You, Harley”, Peter smiled. “Taste like smoke and Gin-tonic.”

“I tend to drink a little on the site. Something that other people could think is water.” Peter laughed and Harley decided it was the most beautiful thing he ever heard. (So far, that is, as he hadn’t even heard him moaning...) From where Harley was still leaning against the wall, he could see those deep brown eyes watch him in anticipation.

“So how did you know she was coming, ‘cause I didn’t see her, it was the kiss something you decided to spontaneously try out and her showing up was just a nice bonus?”

“No, er, well, I did know she was coming but I’ll keep the explanation for some other time. A man got his secrets. If it had been just to kiss you, I’d asked properly and not just moved on instinct and speculations.”

“So what do you suggest we do now with this situation?”, Harley asked, voice hushed, that only Peter could hear. In response, Peter stepped impossibly closer without them touching yet.

“I’d actually like going back to instincts and speculations, that was nice”, he whispered back. That’s all Harley needed to hear to drag Peter in and press their lips together once again. It felt just as good as the first time and, yes, Harley thought, if this was a sin he for sure was going to hell and enjoy it, too.

“You know”, Peter breathed when they parted a few seconds. “My apartment isn’t far from here, if you want-“

“Yes”, Harley interrupted him. “Lead the way, sweetheart.”

Next morning Peter woke up alone in his bed. He needed a few seconds to remind himself why he was confused by that fact, as he lived alone in his apartment. Then he caught sight of the piece of paper lying on his night stand. He grabbed it and read the message quickly.

‘ _Sorry for the leave. Things to do, places to be. Text me if ya want? - H_ ’ and under it stood his phone number. Peter smiled giddily as he remembered the events of last night. He could still recount how exactly Harley’s slim body had felt, pressed against the mattress under him and how delicious he looked, bare and falling apart under his touched with marks all over him, and especially how he sounded saying his name. Peter had never felt so turned on in his life. A look to the clock told him it was already past 10am, so Peter quickly saved Harley’s number in his phone and then went to take a freezing cold shower, because _some_ parts of his body apparently hadn’t understood that the night was over and Peter needed to go to work at Stark Industries. As part of the lab team, Peter didn’t have a set time at which he needed to come in, so he took all the time to get ready and eat a metabolism fitting breakfast. When he arrived at the Stark Tower it was little after 1pm, which was an absolutely acceptable time to come in, Peter decided.

“Hey, FRIDAY, is Tony already in the lab?”, he asked the AI, as he stepped into one of the private elevators.

“Boss is currently in the kitchen on the second Avenger’s floor. Shall I tell him that you’re searching for him, Peter?”, the voice spoke from the ceiling.

“No, thank you, I’ll just pay him a visit real quick”, he answered and pressed the button for the 91st floor, waiting patiently for it to go up, while he was staring at the empty chat his phone displayed. It stared at him almost mockingly. Why did Peter find it so hard to shoot Harley a simple message? He arrived before he could do so much as write a simple ‘hi’, so he tugged his phone back into his pocket and decided that’s a problem for lunch break.

As he left the elevator, Tony’s voice was already to be heard, talking animatedly to someone or maybe to himself, one could never say that for sure. However, when he entered the kitchen he found someone sitting at the island, with a cup of coffee in hand, listening to Tony intently and Peter’s heart stuttered. If it was from anxiety or excitement, Peter certainly couldn’t tell.

“Kid!”, Tony exclaimed having caught sight of him. “Wonderful timing, I want you to meet someone. Have for quite a while now, but it never seemed to work out.”

The young man turned to face Peter, too. It was undoubtedly, though it already had been when Peter recognised the Iron Maiden shirt, tall but muscular body and dirty blonde hair, Harley. Harley _Keener_ , apparently. The kid Tony used to talk about. No way in hell did Peter think of the possibility that the Harley he met last night was the same one that saved Tony Stark’s life years back.

At least Harley appeared to be as surprised as Peter, almost dropping his cup of coffee and all. 

“So _that’s_ where I knew the name Parker from!”, he exclaimed, a wide grin spreading on his face and Peter blushed.

“Wait, hold up”, Tony said, cutting the tension between the two. “You two already know each other?” Harley’s grin only grew wider and Peter turned almost a dark crimson red.

“Kind of?”, he offered, not being able to look his mentor in the eyes. Tony kept glancing between the two, until he let out an exasperated groan, signalling he made the connection.

“How the _fuck_ did you do that, Keener? You didn’t even know him, yet you seduced him already?”

Harley laughed brightly. “I swear, I didn’t know it was him. But you also never mentioned your assistant being a hot piece of ass, old man.”

“Don’t you dare talk about sweet innocent Peter like that, else I will go into cardiac arrest!”

“You probably are anyways, grandpa. Also, sweet and innocent? You should’ve seen Peter last night, he was top-“

“That’s enough information, Harley! We don’t wanna kill him, do we?”, Peter desperately intervened, trying to ban the pictures of the previous night from his mind before inappropriate things happened.

“If ya insist, sweetheart. Though it is funny to watch him be speechless.” Peter had to agree. It was hilarious seeing Tony shocked into absolute silence, his eyes darting from one to the other with horror written all over his face.

“I need a break. I thought you two would be a pain in the ass when you got to be friends but this is hell. I can’t handle this right now. We’ll talk about this properly some other time, when I’m less sober and more prepared. You know where the lab is, just do your thing”, Tony muttered absently, then immediately left the room almost sprinting as if he feared they were going to have sex in front of his eyes the next second.

There was silence for a few seconds.

“So”, Harley spoke at last. “Whatcha thinkin’ about a lunch date? You can choose if it’s in a closet with less clothes or the coffee shop down the street with more.”

“I’d love that”, Peter replies softly, a smile tugging the corners of his mouth upwards.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading!
> 
> If you liked it please consider leaving Kudos, a comment or a bookmark and maybe check out my other stuff?
> 
> Thank y‘all, bye!  
> \- Saturning
> 
> Edit: my tumblr is saturningandturning if ya want to come find me! And if you want to suggest something, please feel more than free to do so!


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